OUI charge follows rollover

YORK — A 21-year old York woman was charged with operating under the influence early Monday morning after her car went down an embankment, rolled over and came to rest roof down on an ice-covered pond, according to York police.

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By Susan Morse

seacoastonline.com

By Susan Morse

Posted Jan. 1, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Susan Morse
Posted Jan. 1, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

YORK — A 21-year old York woman was charged with operating under the influence early Monday morning after her car went down an embankment, rolled over and came to rest roof down on an ice-covered pond, according to York police.

Had the pond not been iced over, "the vehicle would have been submerged," said York Sgt. Owen Davis.

The accident occurred at 1:48 a.m. Monday, Dec. 30, in front of the Lobster Cove restaurant on Route 1A, according to Davis.

Driver Mary A. Barnstead, 21, 1 Davis Drive, York, is charged with operating under the influence, according to Davis. She was transported to York Hospital where she was treated and released, he said.

Davis said he believed Barnstead was travelling north on Route 1A, when her Volvo crossed the southbound lane and went into a grassy area in front of the Lobster Cove, taking out a "breakfast, lunch and dinner" sign hanging there. The Volvo then "rolled over down an embankment and came to rest on its roof in the ice-covered pond," Davis said.

Road conditions at the time were icy, he said.

Barnstead said Monday afternoon that prior to the accident she had called her boyfriend and said she was concerned about the icy conditions and the car's brakes. As the results of blood work taken will not be known for two to four weeks, "it has not been proven," she said, that alcohol was a factor.